Milking a year-old tragedy

[Mr Hero]

I had a SC tonight who asked if we give discounts to theater shooting victims. A couple problems:

1. It happened just over a year ago
2. I have no way of knowing you were actually involved.

Maybe he was a victim, but maybe he wasn't. I got the vibe he was just trying to cash in on it.

[taxguykarl]

SCAMMER ALERT. Tell me the management was informed of this ploy

[MoonCat]

Yeah, we have people who expect a discount every year for putting memorial/remembrance things in the paper for friends of theirs who died in a big local tragedy. It was a horrible accident, I do sympathize, but a discount every year? Hell, no. Everyone else who puts one of these things in the paper for a loved one is grieving just as much, and they aren't asking for discounts!

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

My uncle works in Wedge 4 of the Pentagon and was there on the other side of the building when it got hit by a plane? Can I get a discount on...everything for the next...three ice ages?

[NateTheChops]

Hell, I was at work twenty miles away when the Marathon Bombings happened. Maybe I should get a discount on some stuff.

[Jester]

The people worth giving a discount to for this kind of thing are the people who will never ask for one.

[wolfie]

You could tell them "We don't have a discount for that, but we DO have a discount for people who served with engine company (can't recall the number) of the NYFD on September 11, 2001". If they claim to be entitled to that discount, feel free to call them a liar.

The reason you'd know they weren't entitled? That's the engine company from which there were NO SURVIVORS.

[Jester]

The reason you'd know they weren't entitled? That's the engine company from which there were NO SURVIVORS.

It's fun calling people out on their idiocy.

Example from my own life:

Shortly after Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan, a lot of people were talking about it. And one idiot said within earshot of me that Tillman "was just trying to be Rambo." I wheeled around on that guy and shot out, "Did you know him?" Surprised, he said, "Um, no...." To which I spat with derision and contempt, "Well I did, and anyone who DID know him would know that was NOT what he was about. So why don't you shut the fuck up and don't talk about shit you don't know a fucking thing about!"

Him: "..."

[crickets]

Me, I went back to my beer and didn't hear another peep from Mr. Know-It-All.


Now, was I good friends with Pat? Nope. Barely knew him. But he was a friend of a friend, and we did have a couple beers together, and a more down-to-earth straight shooter you would not find. So, yeah, it pissed me off to hear some yahoo mouthing off about something he didn't know jack shit about.

And did it feel good to put him in his place? Oh, hell yeah it did. (Especially since my options at the time, in my mind, were that or kill him. I think I made the right choice.)

[AmethystSquirrel]

How about the flip side. When you ask for a discount and get looked at like you don't deserve it.

My husband is a wounded warrior (High pressure air explosion on a submarine and labeled as 90% disabled with 100% pending). On some days (very rarely) he doesn't not need a cane and can actually walk decently. On those days we try and go out and do something.
There was a movie theatre that was offering discounts to disabled veterans.
They tried to say he was not eligible. One punk actually said "you are too young to be a veteran"

[wolfie]

There was a movie theatre that was offering discounts to disabled veterans. They tried to say he was not eligible. One punk actually said "you are too young to be a veteran"

A slick-sleeved private who loses a foot to an IED his first day in "the sandbox", having been sent there straight out of basic training, is a disabled veteran. Heck, I'd consider someone who was injured before they'd been 24 hours in basic training (e.g. gas leak resulted in the building where they were being issued their uniform blowing up) and discharged due to the extent of their injuries to be a disabled veteran.

Too young to be a veteran? It's my understanding that (some branches of) the U.S. military will take people in on their 18th birthday, and (for some MOSes) the minimum commitment is 2 years, so you could have a veteran who's too young to buy a beer.